She has made an immediate impact with memorable characterizations such as The Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation With At a Party in the show’s Weekend Update segment.

“It looks like new featured player Cecily Strong is quickly becoming Saturday Night Live’s go-to ditzy girl,” wrote Liz Raftery of TV Guide.

A native of Oak Park, Illinois, and a veteran of the Second City improv troupe, Strong joins a growing list of School of Theater alumni in prominent television roles. Tony Award nominee Condola Rashad (BFA 08) recently starred in the Lifetime Channel’s remake of Steel Magnolias, appearing as Shelby. Alison Brie (BFA 05) is on two critically acclaimed shows—NBC’s Community and AMC’s Mad Men. Eliza Coupe (MFA 05) stars in ABC’s Happy Endings; Michael Cudlitz (BFA 90), known for his work on HBO’s Band of Brothers, is on TNT’s cop procedural Southland. And Katey Sagal (72), of Married with Children fame, won a Golden Globe last year for her turn as biker gang matriarch Gemma Teller Morrow in FX’s Sons of Anarchy.

In the SNL video below, Strong is Paula Broadwell, the biographer of Gen. David Patraeus’ book and one of the women in the center of a CIA sex scandal. She mixes his memoir All In with Fifty Shades of Grey:

24700 is CalArts' online space dedicated to sharing news and work of the larger CalArts community from around the world. The blog captures stories of the exploration of new forms and expressions in the arts by our students, faculty, staff and alumni.